Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) R. Koodli
Request for Comments: 6212 Cisco Systems
Category: Informational July 2011
ISSN: 2070-1721
Mobile Networks Considerations for IPv6 Deployment
Abstract
Mobile Internet access from smartphones and other mobile devices is
accelerating the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. IPv6 is widely seen
as crucial for the continued operation and growth of the Internet,
and in particular, it is critical in mobile networks. This document
discusses the issues that arise when deploying IPv6 in mobile
networks. Hence, this document can be a useful reference for service
providers and network designers.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6312.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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described in the Simplified BSD License.
Koodli Informational [Page 1]RFC 6212 IPv6 in Mobile Networks July 2011Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Reference Architecture and Terminology ..........................3
3. IPv6 Considerations .............................................4
3.1. IPv4 Address Exhaustion ....................................4
3.2. NAT Placement in Mobile Networks ...........................7
3.3. IPv6-Only Deployment Considerations ........................9
3.4. Fixed-Mobile Convergence ..................................12
4. Summary and Conclusion .........................................14
5. Security Considerations ........................................15
6. Acknowledgements ...............................................15
7. Informative References .........................................15
1. Introduction
The dramatic growth of the Mobile Internet is accelerating the
exhaustion of the available IPv4 addresses. It is widely accepted
that IPv6 is necessary for the continued operation and growth of the
Internet in general and of the Mobile Internet in particular. While
IPv6 brings many benefits, certain unique challenges arise when
deploying it in mobile networks. This document describes such
challenges and outlines the applicability of the existing IPv6
deployment solutions. As such, it can be a useful reference document
for service providers as well as network designers. This document
does not propose any new protocols or suggest new protocol
specification work.
The primary considerations that we address in this document on IPv6
deployment in mobile networks are:
o Public and Private IPv4 address exhaustion and implications to
mobile network deployment architecture;
o Placement of Network Address Translation (NAT) functionality and
its implications;
o IPv6-only deployment considerations and roaming implications; and
o Fixed-Mobile Convergence and implications to overall architecture.
In the following sections, we discuss each of these in detail.
For the most part, we assume the Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) 3G and 4G network architectures specified in [3GPP.3G] and
[3GPP.4G]. However, the considerations are general enough for other
mobile network architectures as well [3GPP2.EHRPD].
Koodli Informational [Page 2]RFC 6212 IPv6 in Mobile Networks July 2011